[T]he five-strong team of researchers had not left the station since [August 31], and that the delivery of flares had been urgently needed as the next cargo vessel was not due to arrive for another month.

“A female bear has been sleeping under the station’s windows since Saturday night. It’s dangerous to go out as we have run short of any means to scare off the predators. We had to stop some of the meteorological observations,” Plotkinov added on Monday.

However, Shevchenko said that “three puppies and pyrotechnical devices” had successfully been delivered to the station, which helped the researchers to scare some of the bears away, and allowed observations to resume on Wednesday.

Puppies!

It's hard for me to have an opinion here. I'm pro-science, but I've been conditioned to empathize with polar bears. It's their island, isn't it? Why are these people, who are not built to survive in the extreme north, encroaching on their territory?

He has sunk to the bottom of the world's deepest lake, skied down volcanoes and fished in Siberian rivers. Now, Russia's action-man prime minister, Vladimir Putin, has gone one better – coming face to snout with a giant (if slumbering) polar bear during a trip to Russia's remote Arctic north....

... Russian scientists captured the bear ahead of Putin's visit and kept it captive for 10 days. After hugging the male animal round the neck, Putin fitted it with an electronic collar. Asked by a female journalist about the bear's massive paws, he said: "They're heavy. He's the real master of the Arctic."

25 comments:

Soon to be a major motion picture.......Artic explorers sign up for a certain amount of risk, but puppies do not. If any puppies get hurt during this expedition, it will severely damage the movie's box office potential. I hope they keep this in mind. Conversely, if one or two of the explorers get killed, that will serve to dramatize the risks and dangers that lar explorers face. Box office gold. That's also something for them to keep in mind especially if some team members are truly annoying.......Contrary to popular belief, polar bears actually like humans. They're particularly fond of the meaty part of the upper thigh.

I vote we send PETA in to rescue these poor researchers. And to prevent sunstroke from all the snow, let's cover the PETA members with a nice dark steak sauce first, and let them marinate in it for a while.

The bears get fed, the researchers can leave, and PETA members get to serve the wild animals, if you know what I mean. Win win win.

"Why are these people, who are not built to survive in the extreme north, encroaching on their territory?"

They are up there, surviving, aren't they?

"There are hidden contradictions within the minds of people who “love nature” while deploring the “artificialities” with which “Man has spoiled ‘Nature.” The obvious contradiction lies in their choice of words, which imply that Man and his artifacts are not part of “Nature”--but beavers and their dams are." Robert Heinlein

The bears killed a dog from the research station and are hanging out in hopes of another easy snack....so the Russians send 3 more puppies? Not even grown dogs (which would also become lunch for the bears) but puppies???! /facepalm

Flares are good, to scare the bears away...temporarily. How about some weapons?

Usually dogs frighten off bears. Puppies may be a bad translation. See the story of Helen Thayer, who solo skiied to the North Pole in 1987 with no dog teams, but with a husky named Charlie. She was advised to take a dog and a rifle, because polar bears would be tracking her long before she ever saw them, and the dog woud detect them long before she would. In fact, Charlie saved her life and single-handedly drove off a bear. The Inuits know how to survive in the Arctic.

I suspect the bear isn't resting under the window because her ancestors lived in that spot before the humans moved in and encroached on her environment. She's taking advantage of the shelter and sucking off the warmth (and waiting for the garbage can to top off). Without humans there she'd park herself somewhere else.

The dogs would be "bear alarms."It is hard to believe the weather station crew would not be armed.

My uncle served as a radio operator for such a crew on Spitzbergen to make money to go to college. They shot a polar bear and had polar bear steaks until my uncle protested. The cook, a German and a professional boxer, told my uncle he could spar with him and the day he could knock him out, he could get to choose what to have for dinner.I do not remember if he ever did, but I do know that he boxed when he returned to college and won the national amateur light heavyweight championship, which caused my grandfather to write him a letter suggesting he pay more attention to his studies rather than wasting his time on frivolous sporting activities.

Russian armsmaker Kalashnikov Concern just launched a new rifle in .338 Lapua. If I were one of those Russian scientists I'd ask for the new Kalashnikov and tell headquarters to hold the puppies for now. I'm not a big fan of hunting bears (they're too intelligent and family-oriented, and the meat is kinda greasy), but if a bear is hunting ME then it's game on Yogi.

My north 40 is in the center of black bear country. Having been exposed to these omnivores for 25+ years, I can tell they are nothing more than glorified, over-sized food scavengers (read:rats). It's peaceful coexistence for me. For now.